Trump says he should have left UCLA players in Chinese jail because Lavar Ball didn’t thank him

As we all expected, 2017 is culminating in a feud between Donald Trump and Lavar Ball.Last week, Ball’s son, LiAngelo, was released from Chinese custody after being caught shoplifting in Hangzhou along with two of his UCLA teammates. The trio’s release was surprisingly speedy, partly thanks to Trump personally bringing the issue up with Chinese President Xi Jinping.Afterward, Trump was quick to beg for a thank you from the players, which they provided at a press conference last Wednesday. However, Lavar Ball, a former professional athlete and the world’s most outspoken father, instead decided to downplay his son’s crime and the president’s part in hastening his release.When asked by ESPN on Friday about Trump’s involvement, Ball responded: “Who? What was he over there for? Don’t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out.”“As long as my boy’s back here, I’m fine,” Ball continued. “I’m happy with how things were handled. A lot of people like to say a lot of things that they thought happened over there. Like I told him, ‘They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes.’ I’m from L.A. I’ve seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. My son has built up enough character that one bad decision doesn’t define him. Now if you can go back and say when he was 12 years old he was shoplifting and stealing cars and going wild, then that’s a different thing.”Trump, of course, responded to Ball’s comments with the grace, magnanimity, and selflessness that he is known for.

Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!

Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful!

Before being roundly condemned on Twitter as many wondered what we had all done to deserve this.

Dear @realDonaldTrump: As public servants, we help people because it is the right thing to do, not because we want to be praised for it. Also, the US President should never wish for Americans to be locked up in a foreign jail. https://t.co/nKPqotDUC2

-Trump picking a fight with Lavar Ball by name.-Trump saying American citizens should have been left in Chinese jail-Trump thinking he alone could decide whether they stayed in Chinese jail or not https://t.co/3Zdlj2joWw

After news broke earlier this month that the three UCLA freshmen had been detained for allegedly shoplifting sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store, initial reports claimed that the teens could face three to ten years in jail if they were convicted. It’s not clear where Trump got his “5-10” number from. We assume he made it up.Either way, going by the value of goods shoplifted, the trio were only facing a year of imprisonment at most, and likely much less, according to China Law Translate, as their sentences could be refused if they confessed, showed remorse, paid compensation, etc.It’s also worth noting that the high-profile players were in China at the invitation of e-commerce giant Alibaba, and that it would have been in the company’s best interest to resolve the matter as quickly and cleanly as possible — with or without Trump’s intervention.